Some Time Still
by KarotsaMused
Summary: Third falls; Thor catches. This isn't the first time it happens, and it won't be the last. Rewriting the ending to the anime. Eventual Thor/Third. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Like everybody else, at the end of Jyu-Oh-Sei, my beta and I turned to each other and let out a big old "WHAT?"

So I fixed it. Set in the final episode of the anime and beyond, beginning at that exact moment on Hecate where Third has fallen, and Thor has caught him. Spoilers for everything!

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><p>He knew what was going to happen the instant Third pulled his gun.<p>

He saw the muzzle press to Third's temple, the tightening of his finger, the quick jerk and the blood and the way Third's eyeballs rattled in their sockets. The way his smile went limp and his hand tightened, then released with a heavy slackness.

He wouldn't let it. He was through with being the person everyone else died around. The ultimate prize, the one for whom everyone else sacrificed. What good was the salvation of the human race if every other goddamn person he cared for was dead?

In the old tragedies, it was only once the Hero's beloveds had passed could he transcend. Or die among them.

Thor kicked. It was vicious and poorly aimed, with almost no momentum. His foot connected with the side of Third's hand, knocking the gun against his head and then away. The shot went wild, grazing Thor's thigh.

As the blood seeped from the wound, Third stared, then swore. He clambered up Thor's body like a monkey, hauling him onto the platform. Thor shuddered, his arms limp and weak, and forced himself to roll, pinning Third under his weight.

Though Third had been combat trained, though Third had a good decade on him, a good half a foot and thirty pounds, he just lay there and let Thor hold him down.

"You are still my Third," said Thor, his shoulders trembling. "Whether you like it or not."

"You need to get out of here. You'll be caught in the blast if you don't move," said Third.

"You're coming with me."

"No. I'm not."

Thor put his hand in the center of Third's chest. "Yes. You are."

Third's eyes narrowed, glittering pale green. "I don't feel any regret about killing her," he breathed.

Thor's chest tightened. "That doesn't mean I want you to die!"

"You killed Blanc Ro over her. Why not me?"

"He's not dead! I never finished him. He's not -"

"You realize I've been manipulating you since you met me. Every word, every action, they were all to make you Beast King. They were all in service to Odin. I molded you into the perfect savior." Third smiled, and it was different on pale lips than brown. His skin seemed fragile, translucent, pink with his blood.

"Every semblance of affection I gave you was a lie. You know that, don't you? I had to make you trust me, and you're such a sweet boy at heart."

Thor shook his head, exhausted with confessions, feeling his throat close. "Nobody can lie for that long."

"I can and I have. If we're being honest here, I hate you. Thor Klein."

Thor shuddered. The words sank into him like blows. He was the reason Third accepted the mission, for a prize that no longer existed. He used years of Third's life to become Beast King, and Third had been denied his recompense.

But the ground beneath them was shuddering, the temperature rising. And he could feel the hard, cold detachment in Third's voice like a veil.

He took Third's hand and put it to the edge of his wound, the burning slice the bullet had carved up the outside of his thigh.

"You should have known this wasn't actually life-threatening. A scratch, nothing more," he breathed, leaning forward. "That I could have pulled myself up on my own if you had let go."

Third dug his fingers into Thor's leg. Thor hissed as sharp, bright pain blossomed at his touch.

"You need to get out," he said.

"You need to come," said Thor. "You are my Third."

"I gave my life to you," said Third. "And you still want more? You selfish brat."

Thor winced. He grabbed Third by the collar and got up, hauling him to his feet. He looked up into those green eyes, which were once such gentle brown. "I always thought you were crazy. For supporting me. You betrayed me so often, in so many little ways, I began to think a bigger one wasn't possible. You scared me into believing in you."

Third grinned. He took a step backward, so Thor's arm extended.

The first blast shook the building, and Third bolted forward, catching Thor in the chest and barreling him toward the exit.

Thor realized too late that Third was shielding him, that the heat he felt on the back of his neck was mitigated. That the smell of cooking meat was coming from Third.

The rest of the crew was waiting. They grabbed at him, and Third, pulled them up and darted out of the blast range.

Above the roar of the propellers, Thor could hear the crew screaming at one another as they tended to Third. But he could only watch as Third's eyes took a dull sheen, and fluttered closed.

Even his eyelashes were pale.

Once, Thor had nearly died. Third had revived him, compressed his chest, beaten his face until he'd started to breathe.

That was how Third worked, compassion and violence entwined, like every man that survived more than a season on Chimera. He could talk smoothly and make anything sound like truth. He could have had any woman he wanted, even if he hadn't been handsome.

Had he fathered a child, however, it would have been far too pale. White as snow. White as Thor. The controversy would have been worse than the responsibility.

Thor looked down at his own hands and was startled to see the darkness of his own skin.

Wryly, he smiled. A fine time for him to adapt to the place he'd decided would be his home. He could have used it, in the previous hot summers under unforgiving sun.

He looked at his own hands instead of Third. The smell of meat and blood was almost overpowering, and he didn't want to see those green eyes go gray and dry.

Thor let someone take care of his bullet wound. It had already dried, the skin knitting together. The hands applying the bandage were methodical, efficient.

Time passed in tiny moments. The glimpse of the stars outside the window. The shuddering stop as they docked. The smell of circulated air, so neutral, so sterile.

The sound of Tiz's voice in his ear, the smell of her breath, the warmth of her skin. Asking him to come be with her, to finally make their family.

He closed his eyes and knew she was gone.

"He's going to make it."

Thor blinked, looking up at a white-coated medic. "He's -"

"Heather. He's going to live."

"I want to see him." Thor rose to his feet, sorrow and hope mingling in his gut.

The medic nodded, and led the way.

"It was a lucky thing they got him here so quickly," said the medic, sounding easy, conversational. "It's much harder to revive someone who has given up. Human will has always been a doctor's best tool."

"Human will?" echoed Thor, the phrase heavy in his mouth. He was the Beast King, of a planet with a moral system that was in the process of collapse.

The medic hummed, "Yes. But he should be up and about in no time."

Thor had his doubts, his mouth and nose still filled with that smell. The thick knowledge that Third had his flesh burned away.

But when the medic brought him to the viewing window of the ICU, Third lay on his stomach, the skin of his back as clean and pristine as it was the day he was born.

Thor pressed his hands to the glass and shuddered out a breath, creating a circle of fog. He recognized all of the machines around Third, had nearly forgotten about them in his years on Chimera. How primitive they seemed, compared to replicators that could grow new skin in minutes from the patient's own cells.

"How long?" he murmured.

The medic looked over. "You think I haven't heard about you, Mister Klein?"

Thor turned, frowning. "I'm taking him."

"I'd prefer you didn't steal him before we have a chance to make sure his body doesn't reject the artificial proteins," said the medic mildly. "And if you'd be so kind, don't tell me you're going to take him. Plausible deniability."

Thor's frown deepened. The medic murmured, "He's still enlisted. He's military property. The authority of the Beast King doesn't override the bureaucracy that supports Chimera."

Thor pushed himself away from the window, his hands closing into fists. "You will tell me when he can be moved."

"From a purely medical standpoint, of course," agreed the medic, tucking his hands behind his back. "If you were to guard him, here, you wouldn't be disturbed."

The medic, easy as anything, turned his back on him and walked away.

Thor narrowed his eyes, but turned back to look through the glass, watching Third breathe. Even, measured, albeit shallow. He could see the moisture from Third's breath on the inside of the oxygen mask. Third was warm. Third was always warm. The challenges he'd stared down at Thor were always undercut with a hint of heat. Desire for power, for success, for order. It would have been easy to mistake it as desire for touch.

Third could have fathered a child with any woman he wanted. But he abstained, for the mission. For Thor. Thor had his douts that Third would have become a father even without those directives. Certainly not on Chimera. Perhaps, if he could have, on Earth.

Thor didn't know how long he waited, watching Third breathe, but he was jolted out of his meditation when a group of medics walked by, led by the one that had talked to him before.

He managed to catch him saying, "Well, now he's stable enough we can move him to a regular bed. But let's wait until morning, just in case."

Thor felt the adrenaline rush through him, down to his tingling fingertips.

He counted to a thousand. Then to two thousand. He waited in the white noise made by constant whirring machinery, the noise he'd tuned out as a child, the noise that had made the silence on Chimera thunder through him.

Then, alone, he crept into the ICU and began to unhook the machines, carefully turning them off so they wouldn't sound alarms. Up close, the new skin on Third's back was even paler than the rest of him, almost blue. The scars on his sides stopped abruptly at the borders of his new flesh.

Thor lifted him gingerly, almost expecting the new skin to slide away like a sheet. When it didn't, he wrapped Third in the blanket, balanced Third over his shoulder and walked, calmly, to the elevator.

He knew it was foolish. He knew he should have been stopped.

But he wasn't.

On the descent, Third moaned.

"We're going home," said Thor firmly.

"You son of a bitch," breathed Third, his breaths shallow with pain.

Thor hummed. "You never knew my mother."

Third laughed, rough and wry. "Put me down."

"Can you stand?"

"Does it matter? I'm not letting anyone see you carry me like this." He hissed as Thor lowered him. "You didn't even get me a coat. It's still f-freezing down there."

"Use the blanket until we can find you something better. I'm carrying you out. You're barefoot." Thor lifted his chin.

Third eyed him, hunching. He wrapped the blanket tightly around himself and winced. "Fine. Ow, hell."

Thor rolled out his shoulders. "You realize what I've done?"

"You've damned me to this miserable planet," breathed Third, closing his eyes. "And you're probably going to die before I do. But first I'm going to have to line up every woman on this rock for you to fuck."

Thor grunted, looking away. "I'm not going to force you do that."

"Aren't you? You're it. The perfect specimen. You are going to make babies until you're as dry as a reed." Third straightened, groaning, and tilted his neck until it cracked. "And I know that. You've got to propagate the species. A race that can survive on this plant-infested rock."

"You feel that responsibility?"

"I've borne it since I took the mission, Thor. It's like an old glove now."

The elevator doors opened and the cold rushed in. Thor lifted Third and put him back over his shoulder. Unresisting, Third only grunted.

There were a lot of questions to meet them. Some mistook Third for Thor at first glance. Only then did he realize his hair was going dark at the roots.

Under his breath, he said, "I'm turning into you."

Third smirked, and hissed, "You miss me already."

"You are my Third," said Thor, "Whether you like it or not. You have a new mission, now."

Third ran his hand down Thor's leg, to the bandage. He squeezed. It didn't hurt like it had before, only a dull ache under Third's touch.

"Until death, my Top," he breathed, beginning to shiver.

"That," said Thor, "will be some time still."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Ah, chapter two. In which Thor unwillingly lays down a baseline, otherwise known as Third Uses The Entirety of Chimera to Self-Flagellate.

Okay so it's not so blatant but that's kind of where he's coming from. Also, there is a kiss, but it's more a matter of fealty than anything else.

HellzCrusader: Thank you again for your review. Feedback makes my day! I hope you'll bear with me and the way this is going.

dreamlife109: I hope you've come back for seconds! The ending was obviously thrown together in a desperate grasp at drama because this series was only eleven episodes. I mean seriously! I'm surprised this section of ff dot net isn't filled with Let's Pretend The Last Half Of The Last Episode Didn't Actually Happen.

Feedback always appreciated!

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><p>"You're not going to get them all during the Month of Joining. So you're starting early. Tomorrow."<p>

Third had said it with that same old confident smile, and steamrolled right over the rest of his plans.

Thor needed to work on the political climate in Chimera. Without instructions from above, the law on the land was of ultimate importance. With the collapse of all but the Ochre Ring, he was the compass, the Top to whom everyone else looked for guidance.

But Third was fanatical about his genes, about having his DNA passed on to whomever could take it.

Thor tried to be kind with them. Third ushered women in to him like so much cattle, but Thor tried always to soften his words. To use a gentle hand, to ask permission.

Some women didn't want him. They didn't want a thing to do with this man who changed colors, who was not the man they wanted or loved. Thor had to keep Third from his more insistent measures of persuasion, often claiming exhaustion to get a little peace.

Some women didn't want him. They railed against him, prepared to fight. He always held his hands up where they could see them, talking softly, explaining. Giving them the option to refuse him.

Some women did. Thor never fought them. He knew the statistical likelihood of miscarriage, any number of factors that could compromise a pregnancy. He always gave them lies to tell, to convince those who believed in Third to let them go.

Some women climbed readily into his lap, some desperate, some warm, some lazy. Thor had to learn quickly. He had to sleep often. To eat whenever Third presented him with food.

Only when he ate did Third soften, and sit with him.

"There's territorial fighting going on near the border of what used to be Noire Ring territory."

"Whom, and what over?" murmured Thor, chewing slowly.

Third explained it, moving his hands as he spoke. Within days of returning to Chimera, Third had resumed his old patter, his distance, his teasing. He sounded like the man that had left, down to the last chuckle.

Thor had left it up to him to explain his new appearance, but Third had thrown himself into his new duties with such vigor that Thor doubted anyone had gotten the chance to ask him. Third was too busy talking up Thor's DNA. The necessity of perpetuating the human species on Chimera, the necessity of survival. Without Thor's input, he orchestrated whole waves of women from different rings, moving them through the Ochre stronghold in shifts, assuring them that, next year, they could be with whichever man they chose, so long as they gave this one sacrifice for the good of the race.

After all, there was no getting off the planet without the Dagger Pagoda.

Thor let Third tell him about the skirmishes. They were nothing new, now, on a nearly lawless planet with little beasts trying to become dominant.

"I should be out there," said Thor, not for the first time.

Not for the first time, Third shook his head. "Once you're done with this season, but not until then."

"I haven't been outside in days!"

"The sun won't come up for another month at least," said Third. "There's no point in going outside."

Thor frowned, feeling childish. He knew this was his duty, he knew this perverted legacy was humanity's best hope. "I am not acting like a Top."

"You're acting like the Hero. Sacrificing. Doing what needs to be done."

Thor bristled. "I am tired of people calling me that."

"It's who you are. It could have been your name," said Third with a shrug.

"Heather," spat Thor, reaching out to grab Third's shoulder. He watched Third's expression tighten, then carefully relax.

Third smiled, silken as honey. "Yes, my Top?"

"You're treating it nominally. I am still the Beast King."

"You hate that title." Third chuckled. "You always have."

Thor grimaced, then pulled Third down to the bed, bracing one arm over his throat. His skin was so brown, and Third's so pale. "You scheming bastard."

Third licked his lips. "Your body is precious, Thor. You shouldn't waste it on a man."

"I am your lord and I'll do what I please," Thor growled.

Like he weighed nothing, Third flipped him, knocking him onto his back.

Third rose, straightened his collar, and smiled. "It appears you're ready for the next one. I'll go get her."

Thor shuddered, knowing he'd been manipulated _again._ "I'm done with that for today. No more."

"Nonsense," purred Third. "You're in the last hundred for the season, my Top. You can't stop now." He sauntered toward the door, and wrenched it open. Bellowed, "Next!" and shoved a girl into the room that couldn't have been more than thirteen.

Thor's breath caught in his throat.

Third smiled at him over her head. "I leave you to your duty, my lord," he said, and shut the door.

It was some days before Thor finished with them all. An endless stream of women, some of them barely out of girlhood. By the end of the line, all of them were willing, docile as lambs. Thor had the feeling that Third had been coaching them.

He knew some of the men around him were jealous, unable to have any chance at the women, but Third, it appeared, was taking care of that as well. As the sun rose, Thor snuck about his own fortress, and listened in. Third was cracking down hard on any dissention, and he had a group of supporters that believed in him as much as they believed in Thor. Those who had known Thor when he was pale white could testify - Thor was a new breed of human, a brand new subspecies better equipped to live. Thor was making a new race of beast kings, and those who were jealous were only being selfish about the next generations.

There were fights. Small battles, larger battles, threatening to turn to mobs. But when some of the women started to step in to calm them, things quieted down. Women were too precious, and as time passed, too many of them were already pregnant, not worth the risk.

Again and again, Thor overheard the promises - the other men would have their chance in the next season. The next generations couldn't be inbred. Thor's DNA was strong enough to overtake all others. But he had to establish the baseline first.

After their altercation, Third took over queue responsibilities permanently. No longer did he permit any of the other men to guide women to Thor's room. He alone brought Thor food, and he alone brought Thor news from the outside.

When Third came in and smiled, looking haggard, his skin blemished dark blue under his eyes, he said, "You're done. That was all of them. All of the women we could find."

Thor rose, and came to him, and took his face in both hands. "I have more work to do."

Third turned his face, closed his eyes, kissed Thor's palm. "You have."

Thor shivered, and dropped his hand, moving to step around him. "Get some rest. I'll come for you when I want you."

"When do you not want me?" murmured Third.

Thor didn't look over his shoulder. "Change the sheets before you get into the bed."

He shut the door behind him, shut Third into his room. The heat of summer had penetrated into the hall, and he took a moment to tie his hair back off of his neck. It fell, long and black, over his hands. For a moment, the color startled him.

In a few generations, he knew, forming bonds based on skin color would be obsolete. If the children he fathered were at all like him, everyone would be able to change based on their environment. Their colors would match their need for survival.

They would all be brown, he knew. Deep brown, to protect against the sun, to blend in with the plants, to better hide bruises and blood.

He wondered, not for the first time, if his body had always known about Third. Those tiny betrayals, all of the lies and evasions. If he'd stayed white because Third tied him to the stars. Now, Third was the only one, his skin betraying him, his hair pale blond. And Thor was dark, and handsome, his eyes the last remnant of the color he used to wear.

"I had always known it would be you," said Third, from behind him. "From the instant I saw you. You were the most beautiful boy I'd ever laid eyes on. Prettier than a girl."

Thor turned, frowning. "I told you to get some rest."

"You let me sneak up on you," said Third, shrugging. "That's not good, with the amount of people who have tried to assassinate you."

"How many," said Thor, lifting his chin.

Third smiled wryly. "How many of the women you've bedded have men they'd intended to join with?"

"It didn't have to be this way," said Thor softly.

"This was the most efficient. Like removing a thorn. Next season, they will have each other again. Until it gets to be routine." Third shrugged again. Though he was still smiling, Thor could see the exhaustion in his face. "Change is always painful."

"You want me to do that every other year," said Thor flatly.

Third stepped forward, looming over Thor. When Thor lifted his face to maintain eye contact, Third touched him, gently, just under his chin. "You have plenty of time to replenish your stores, my Top."

Thor caught his wrist. "No. From now on, only those women that _wish_ to will come to me. I am not raping this planet!"

"Your idealism will be the end of you," said Third, his expression softening. "You're such a sweet boy, still. It's easy to forget."

Thor narrowed his eyes. "You are still under my command."

"I am," agreed Third. He leaned in close, his mouth over Thor's ear. "I changed the sheets, as ordered. I will wait for you to want me, Thor."

The shiver wound its way down Thor's spine, pooling into weakness at his knees. He ground out, "You are being manipulative yet again."

Third straightened, then smiled at him. "I was using your words. That's all."

Thor took a step back, then turned his back on Third. "Rest. I'll come back."

"Don't close your eyes, Thor. The Hero always has enemies."

Thor walked away without responding, heading toward the surface.

It was his own luck that brought him first to Chen. She was watching the last of the girls go, migrating out into the sunlight.

"Chen," he said softly, and when she turned he experienced a jolt, like a memory he'd forgotten. She'd never come to him to bear his child.

She nodded to him, wrapping her arm around her stomach. "Thor."

He wanted to reach to her. Instead, he kept his hands by his sides. "I've finally been released," he said wryly, starting to smile.

Chen rubbed her own belly. "Did you not. Did you not want me?"

Thor blinked. Took a moment to parse it, then said, "I was under the assumption that you'd have to fight to get away from me. All of the other women were forced. Weren't they?"

"I've been belowground, working." She narrowed her eyes. "I only heard of it once the sun came up, and by then, Third told me you had enough this season."

Thor frowned. He shook his head. "Does he want you instead, then?"

"No." Chen shook her head, looking off over Thor's shoulder. "He won't have anything to do with me."

"Chen," said Thor, taking two steps forward. He stopped when she took the same number in retreat. "If it is what you want, I would. You know these children will be different."

"Am I really in any position to take care of a child?" snapped Chen, narrowing her eyes. "You self-centered pig."

Thor sagged, chastened. "I'm sorry. I only meant to tell you that I didn't mean any insult by it. I'd prefer you came to me by choice, if you came to me at all. It was - this was all Third's doing."

"Because you've truly been so fuck-drunk?" murmured Chen. Thor flushed at the word as it slipped from her lips, from the mouth of a woman he'd always respected as almost regal. "You can't blame him solely for this."

"I admit I would have planned it better," said Thor softly. He looked out between the columns, taking a place by the window some distance from Chen. The heat beat down on him, but the stone was still cool. "The girls that didn't want to. I. I told them to say they had, to wait a few months, then to pretend they'd lost the baby."

Chen let out a slow breath. "Do you realize what that could do to them? What man would assume the miscarriage was _your_ fault, and not hers?"

"Any woman that could stand up to the Beast King could handle that pressure," said Thor softly, glancing over.

Chen's shoulders relaxed. "How would you have planned it, Beast King?"

Thor snorted. "The weather here is cruel, but this fortress is well-protected. A woman could conceivably give birth at nearly any time except the very beginning of winter and still survive. It would be difficult, but they would both make it." He lifted his chin. "I would have preferred to move in stages, so that not all of the women in every ring had to be pregnant at the same damn' time. It'll be hell when they give birth! All of them at once?"

Thor scraped his hands through his hair, breaking the string around his ponytail.

Chen gasped.

Thor glanced over, and she looked away.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "It's just that. You look so very like him, Thor. And he like you. I haven't gotten a chance to get used to your new colors yet."

Thor sighed. "Maybe it's awful, but that's the point. All of the children born should, hopefully, act like I do. It makes the rings bound by skin color meaningless, but. They've collapsed anyway, haven't they?"

Chen nodded, her head bowed. "What members weren't slaughtered by the Blanc ring have either sworn allegiance to Ochre or have gone rogue. Those that survived the winter have been raiding our supplies. Ochre can't protect every outcropping that's given you their allegiance. It's chaos, on the edges of your territory."

"And I just sent a bunch of pregnant women into the fray," said Thor, his hands beginning to shake. "What does he mean to do, ruin this planet?"

"No." Chen smiled a little, wryly. "Every woman you've touched is moving into one of four safe camps, far away from the borders of Ochre land. Third organized them himself, or so I've heard. He looks enough like you used to that most people obeyed him without question."

Thor frowned out into the sunlight. "How well-guarded are these camps, Chen."

"Better than this stronghold. Most of your men are with the women, now."

"A lot has happened since I've been confined to my room," said Thor softly.

Chen put her hand on his arm. It was light, but soft, and oddly smooth in one patch at the heel of her palm, where her sword calluses had started to soften back into skin. "We understand it was for the greater good."

Thor let out a breath, then covered her hand with his own. Not so long ago, Chen was a symbol of unattainable womanhood, something beautiful and fierce and a little frightening, something he never thought he'd be man enough to touch. Now her hand on his arm was a comfort, and though she brought back memories, the sadness was just an undercurrent, like familiarity.

Something she said caught up with him. "What were you working on?"

Chen broke into a smile. "I'll show you. Come this way."

He followed her, and as they walked she said, "While Tiz was trying to get everyone into the elevator - Thor?"

Thor had paused, but then he shook his head and smiled. "I'm sorry. That was the first time I've heard her name in some time."

Chen put her hand back on his arm. "It's the first time I've said it. She loved you, you know that? She was so happy when you finally said you'd father her children."

"No mother could be quite like Tiz," said Thor, a quiet agreement. "But I'm grateful to have known her."

They descended a stairwell, and Chen let the silence settle between them until they reached the sub-basement.

"While she was getting everyone into the elevator, I rode up on a test passage with Rada." She flicked on a lightswitch and illuminated a room full of glowing servers, machine guns, and what appeared to be a massive pile of robotics. "We grabbed a few things."

Thor let out a slow breath, trying to tamp down on a smile that was turning wicked.

"So. Chen. Teach me what you've learned."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: And, Chapter Three. In which Thor gives a speech, and Thor and Third come to an understanding.

The understanding involves Thor/Third. You all knew the slash was coming, didn't you? It's a slightly different flavor than usual, but this was, I think, as far as I could go while still obeying the rules of this archive. ...Eh heh?

HellzCrusader: Thanks for your review! I think, in a lot of ways, Thor has really just learned the importance of a consensual sexual relationship. And that's going to be important, moving forward, as this concludes.

Feedback always appreciated!

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><p>Mere hours later, Thor gave a speech. Around him, scribes waited to take down his every word, so it would be passed to the rest of the survivors.<p>

His words were these:

_My friends, we are now alone in the universe. This planet will no longer receive anything from outside its atmosphere. We are alone. _

_The reasoning behind this is one that many of you may have heard before now. This planet was used as a combination prison and genetic experiment, and the wars between the Tops of the Rings were funded by the creators of that experiment. _

_I will tell you now, with great shame, and great humility, that I am the product of that experiment. Generations of Beast Kings have given their genetic code to me. I was engineered in a laboratory, and I was the first natural childbirth on Juno, the satellite colony where I lived before being sent here. I was born to become Beast King, and so I have, whether you care for me or do not. All I can do now is pass along my genetics to empower your children, to build new generations that are better able to survive on this world. You have learned of this already, and I apologize for the pain it has caused you. Every life on this planet is precious, none more so than that of a woman. _

_So I will say that from this moment on, any woman that desires me to father another child for her need only come to me and I will provide. If, however, any woman does not want this, she is free to make that decision. No longer will any woman be forced to bear my children, and I only regret having created this situation in the first place. _

_I am sure it has been impressed upon you how important this new generation will be, but I feel I must clarify one more point._

_We are no longer receiving aid from any other planet or colony. We are also no longer going to receive any new citizens. The women among us, and the children they are carrying, are the future of Chimera. _

_I ask you now. Which is preferable? Shall we let the strongest, sturdiest, most powerful group of human beings I have ever known perish from this unworthy rock or shall we tame it? I know the quest to become Beast King was a quest for a pardon, a ticket to freedom. But there is no such ticket now that we do not build ourselves. _

_I know that among us are engineers, botanists, rocketeers, scientists, and even those uneducated but unlimited by the power of their imaginations! Among us are the people that could rebuild Chimera from a hell into a port that will take us again into the stars. _

_I am begging you; let us all band together against this harsh world. Let us all put aside rivalry based on skin color and authority. _

_I propose this plan. Everyone on this planet, come to the Ochre land. It is only dangerous when the Muses germinate, but there is something I have learned to tame them, and I believe this land can be made a safe haven. I have discovered a fungus that eats through the roots of Muses, softens them so they may be cut by our knives. The Muses do not react to it, merely let it grow. Imagine the possibilities, now! Careful cultivation and containment of this fungus could protect us not only from the germination of the Muses, but could also provide safe paths deep underground to drill not only for water but for ores. If this planet is anything like the other water-bearing planets humanity has found, there is a wealth of metal beneath the surface that we have been unable to harness because of the roots of the Muses._

_I want everyone to work together. I want refineries, mines, hospitals, schools. I want space ports! I want humanity bonded together against this planet so we may master it, so there will be a safe place for our children, cool in the summer, and warm in the winter. _

_I will employ any person who comes to aid this effort, including women. If the woman is pregnant at the time, she will receive the utmost care, even if she may not perform strenuous work. _

_In this world we will build, there will be no Month of Joining. It will be safe for women to be pregnant at any time of year, and so it will be safe for lovers to come together whenever they wish. I believe that in harsh climates humanity will turn to strict regimes to survive, but that only bears the promise of freedom in the future._

_I need you. I need everyone from the skilled scientist to the untrained teenager. I need your strength and your minds and your knives. Let there no longer be any senseless killing or infighting. Let us come together and not just survive, but live!_

* * *

><p>After his speech, Thor lifted his head and turned, seeing Rada behind him and, retreating, a flash of pale hair.<p>

He waited until the scribes had all they needed, then bowed and left them, headed on instinct to his room. Beast Kings had never been skilled orators, but whenever Thor had previously spoken before the Ochre Ring, Third had waited for him in his room afterward, so they could discuss just where he'd gone right.

When he opened his door, he was not disappointed. Third stood in his customary corner, his arms crossed over his chest. The bed had been made, pristine, without wrinkle.

"So that was why you didn't come back to the room," he said, as Thor closed the door behind him.

Thor untied his hair and let it fall around his shoulders. "Chen took me around belowground. There was a lot you hadn't told me."

"You had work to do," said Third, looking unruffled. "I didn't want you to be distracted."

"You picked the cruelest path," said Thor, watching him.

Third smiled. "It was most efficient. If too few women had volunteered, your genetics would be again bred out of the race in a mere few generations. Not because they wouldn't survive, but because those descendants would just be outnumbered. The bloodlines would be diluted."

"But you did not bring me Chen."

"Did you want her?" asked Third, his smile quirking. "My apologies."

Thor narrowed his eyes. "She wants you."

Third pushed away from the wall, tucking his hands into his waistband. It made his shirt ride up, exposing pale, scarred belly. He'd never looked so cut up when his skin had been darker. He came to Thor, looked down at him, his smile unchanged. "No, she doesn't. She wants the man I acted like. The one who looks like you."

"Nobody lies that long," said Thor softly, looking up through his lashes.

Third touched his chin anyway, tipping his face up with gentle fingertips that were cold despite the heat of day. "Couldn't I? How could I explain to her what I've done in a way that could guide her, once again, to love me? I rejected her once, Thor, and the Sun Top loved her instead. She knows what being loved feels like."

"You could have said you don't want her," said Thor.

Third lowered his face until his features blurred in Thor's vision. "In answer to your accusation? Hardly."

Thor swallowed, jaw working against the pressure of Third's fingers under his chin. "What do you want, then?"

"Do you want me to say it's you?" murmured Third, so close the percussion of his consonants rolled over Thor's lips. "If it were, I'd have had you already, as a tender boy. Fresh meat." His tongue flicked out, brushing Thor's lower lip. "I stayed celibate for you. I haven't fucked a single goddamn' woman since I was fourteen. Because of _you_," he hissed, stroking his fingertips down Thor's throat.

Thor couldn't help the shudder, and Third pounced on it, biting his lip. Thor grunted, pulling back, and Third let him go.

He wondered, when his skin had been as white as Third's, if he'd ever flushed that way, from his cheeks down his chest, so deep his eyebrows looked white against his skin.

Thor shook his head, sucking his lip into his mouth. He could feel the indentations in his skin where Third's teeth had come down, probed them with his tongue.

"Get out," he said softly, stepping out of the way of the door.

Third's smile was thin. "Of course, my Top. Do you not like me when I'm honest? Then I'll continue to lie for you."

"That would imply you'd told me the truth at any time," said Thor, watching as Third approached him with the footfalls of a predator. The way Third's eyes were narrowed, the twitch in his eyebrow, the dangerous quirk to his smile pushed Thor to step in front of the door.

"I thought you'd ordered me to leave," murmured Third, looking down at him again.

Thor narrowed his eyes. "Tell me something true."

"I hate you. From the bottom of my heart, I hate you." Third smiled, shrugging one shoulder.

"You're lying again," said Thor, curling one hand into a fist by his side. "I said tell me a truth."

"Is it so inconceivable that someone might hate the great Thor Silveret?" Third's smile broadened. "Are you so proud?"

Thor raised his fist, and swung.

He'd expected Third to dodge. He'd expected, if he managed to connect at all, to feel Third's jaw strong and unmoved under his fingers. For his punch to be as ineffectual as it had been when he'd been eleven, able to do little more than split Third's lip.

He hadn't expected to send Third flying backwards, to propel him hard enough that he hit the wall.

Thor stared down at his own fist, swallowed his apology, and felt rage take its place. He crossed in two steps to Third, and took his shirt in his hand, shaking him. Third felt so light. As Thor's grip lifted Third's shirt, he could see Third's ribs through his skin below the fabric.

Thor bared his teeth. "You fool! What have you been _doing_?"

Third let out a sigh, dangling from his grip. "I have been laying the groundwork for your glorious future, my lord," he breathed.

Fury spoke for him. "You will tell me the truth or I will split your head against the wall."

Third looked up into his eyes and started to smile, his hands trembling as they came to cover Thor's fist. "Is it finally so, Thor? Do you hate me now?"

Thor frowned. "Heather."

"A man can't live on so much forgiveness. Do you know how difficult it was to make a kind boy into the Beast King? Do you know how often I killed for you?"

Thor slammed his body against the wall. He could feel Third's bones under his knuckles, alarming in their definition. "Tell me something _true_. You are mine and I have given you an order."

Third shuddered, coughing, the blow having knocked his air from him. "I was sent here when I was fourteen. I have lived on this rock, waiting for you, Thor. I knew you because you were so goddamn' beautiful."

Thor watched as Third's fingers curled around his wrist, his hand clasped in both of Third's. "Fourteen," he echoed softly.

"The age of consent, when I was that young," breathed Third. "Until you, the most beautiful thing I had seen in my life was a hologram of Earth."

"You said as much," said Thor, "in the hall of the Beast Kings."

"I loved watching you kill them," breathed Third, his hands traveling up Thor's arm to his elbow. "I always told you that the worst beasts are men."

"It was mercy!" cried Thor.

Third licked his lips. "You said as much," he echoed.

Thor's fist tightened. He heard the seams of Third's shirt groaning in response. He bowed his head, his hair falling forward, a veil to hide his face. On the edge of hearing, he whispered, "I want to forgive you. I don't want to be without you."

He raised his other hand and punched Third's cheek. When Third's head hit the wall, and the blood seeped from his nose, Thor said, "I should have killed you for Karim."

"You should have," agreed Third, his eyelids fluttering as they closed. His expression was almost peaceful.

Thor said, "I should have known. I was weak when you strung me along."

"You were," agreed Third, his hands light on Thor's arm. "You were a sweet boy."

"What am I to you now?" asked Thor, his knuckles digging into Third's chest.

"You are," said Third, "the culmination of my adult life. Everything I have worked to build, everything I had ever wanted. The symbol of my freedom." Third opened his eyes and smiled wryly. "Do you know what a fool I was? I was about to board a transport that Odin said would take me to Earth. They were going to just shoot me into space."

Thor's jaw dropped. "Heather."

"Just shoot me into goddamn' space, and I would have gone so happily. I'd have starved to death in the empty field where Earth would have been." He swallowed, his expression crumpling. "I hate you, Thor. So goddamn' much."

Thor swallowed around the rock in his throat and loosened his grip on Third's shirt.

"What's another floating blue ball," said Third softly. "It wasn't as though I knew anyone who would be there. I just wanted, for once, for something to be _easy_."

"You are making certain things harder than they have to be," said Thor, letting out a breath.

"You're letting me," said Third wryly, letting his hands fall from Thor's arm.

Thor grimaced. "Don't put this on me," he growled, even as he felt the guilt well up inside him. Third wasn't lying.

"My lord," breathed Third. "I will do as you command."

Thor growled, then pulled Third to him, curling his fingers around Third's throat, speaking against his mouth. "Then you will breathe when I do. Your heart will beat with mine. You will eat with me, bathe with me, sleep with me. No more foolishness, Third. You are _mine _and I will _not_have you lie to me any more."

"A glorious revolution," murmured Third, but he made no move to pull away. "I live to serve."

Thor lapped the blood from Third's lips, almost gentle. "No, you don't. But you will learn how to. I will call you on every last lie, you conniving wretch, until I've turned you inside-out."

"Oh," said Third, letting out a soft moan. "Do."


End file.
